The Exchange file photo
The Scotland County Peace Officers Memorial was unveiled on March 1, 2020.
LAURINBURG — Every year, law enforcement officers who have died or been disabled in the line of duty are honored for Peace Officers Memorial Day.
Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week is an observance in the United States that pays tribute to the local, state, and federal peace officers who have died, or who have been disabled, in the line of duty. It is celebrated May 15 of each year.
“This week we’re honoring those who gave some and those who gave all in the law enforcement family,” said Sheriff Ralph Kersey. “We especially honor two here at the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office — David Morgan who was killed responding to a domestic call in 1966 and Alexis Thunder Eagle Locklear who just over three years ago was responding to back up another officer and he lost his life on Old Wire Road.”
Both deputies are represented at the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office on the Scotland County Peace Officers Memorial, which was unveiled on March 1, 2020.
“We try to honor both of them throughout the year not just on a special day,” Kersey said. “I think we’ve done a very good job of that. If people in the county want to visit the Sheriff’s Office and see the monument that we placed in front of the magistrates’ office unless it’s bad weather usually the state flag and the United States flag are both posted there …”
“We also have two walls in the Sheriff’s Office that display some kind of remembrance,” Kersey continued. “Whether it’s a letter or a picture or a blanket that people across the United States have sent us. They’re gone, but they’re not forgotten.”
So far in 2021, there have been 97 officers who have fallen in the line of duty and in 2020 there were 264 officers killed in the line of duty.
Katelin Gandee can be reached at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.